In theory, workers in China are promised
security through official trade union representation and the rule of the
Communist Party. In practice, confronted with the endless churning of a
globalised labour market, they are increasingly voting with their feet.

I'll Be Militant: the IBM workers on strike in Shenzhen. Image / China Labour Bulletin. All rights reserved.The ten-day strike by more than a
thousand workers at an IBM factory in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen in
early March grabbed international media attention. Yet there was nothing
particularly unusual about the strike—it was, in many ways, a microcosm of the
shifting dynamics of labour relations in China today.

One of the primary causes of unrest over
the last three years has been the sale, merger, relocation or closure of
factories in the manufacturing heartland of southern China. The Shenzhen strike
was triggered by IBM’s sale of its low-end server business to the Chinese-owned
computer manufacturer Lenovo and the workers’ protest followed a familiar
pattern. The workers knew ahead of time that they might have to fight for decent
compensation from IBM and were ready to take action when the company made its “take
it or leave it” offer. From March 3rd to 12th, the workers staged regular
protests, marching around the compound, banging drums and gongs, demanding
double what IBM was offering. They made sure they did nothing to antagonise the
local authorities or the police—indeed, the local government attempted to
mediate on the workers’ behalf.

The protest highlighted the ambiguous
role of the official trade union and the importance of local non-governmental
organisations that actively look out for the rights and interests of workers.
The workers’ general assessment of the IBM factory trade union was: “The union
exists in name only. It's useless.” But the municipal trade union in Shenzhen has
in the last few years positioned itself as a defender of workers’ rights and
did eventually take a stand when 20 of the striking workers were sacked by IBM.
At the same time, two labour-rights groups in the city had been talking to the
workers about electing worker representatives to directly negotiate with management
but the resolve of the workers weakened after the strike leaders were sacked and
most eventually accepted IBM’s offer.

Although the IBM workers’ action failed
to get the desired result, the workers still came away with something—both
those employees who agreed to move over to Lenovo and those who decided to
leave the factory and look for another job elsewhere. And perhaps the only
reason IBM made a compensation offer at all was that management knew, from the
numerous strikes and protests over the same issue in Shenzhen and across China,
that it would face even more trouble if it did not.

The workers’ demands, in and of themselves, are not a threat to the party.

In May 2013, several hundred workers at the
Hong Kong-owned furniture maker Diweixin had marched through Shenzhen after
management refused to discuss compensation when the factory relocated to
neighbouring Huizhou. The workers clashed with police and more than 200 protesters
were detained. One of the strike leaders, a 40-year-old migrant worker, Wu
Guijun, was arrested and eventually tried on public-order offences. And in an
incident even closer to home, thousands of workers at the Nokia factory in
Dongguan staged strikes and sit-ins in November, when management refused to
discuss workers’ concerns stemming from the sale of Nokia’s mobile-phone
business to Microsoft. Nokia sacked 213 strikers and faces legal action from 70
seeking reinstatement.

Employers in China are no longer under
any illusion that if they attempt to railroad through a deal with which their
employees are not happy the workers will put up a fight. A research report by China
Labour Bulletin (CLB) on the workers’ movement recorded 1,171 strikes and
worker protests from June 2011 to the end of 2013. And these were just the incidents
reported in the Chinese media and social media—the number was certainly much
higher.

Although factory workers in southern China
are probably the most determined in standing up for their rights, they are not
alone. The manufacturing sector accounted for 40% of the strikes recorded by
CLB but transport workers, mainly taxi and bus drivers, took up another 26%. Construction
workers, service providers, teachers and shop workers also staged periodic
strikes over low pay, wage arrears and non-payment of employer social-insurance
contributions.

Social media

The vast majority of these strikes were
organised by the workers themselves, without the involvement of the trade
union. Workers in China are now much more aware of their own collective strength—of
their ability to organise and bring their grievances to a wider audience and
get the local government involved. They have been aided considerably over the
last few years by the rapid development of the social media and messaging
platforms Weibo and WeChat, and the widespread availability of cheap, no-brand
smartphones. Strike organisers can not only get their colleagues together on
social media—they can post updates, photographs and videos on the strike’s
progress and the response of management. This social media activism has allowed
the mainstream Chinese media to report on the workers’ protests and this, in
turn, has put pressure on local-government officials to resolve disputes as
quickly as possible.

Workers have also been supported in
their action by labour-rights groups, especially in the southern province of
Guangdong. They are increasingly focused on guiding workers through collective
actions and encouraging them to elect representatives and bargain directly with
the employer, rather than relying on the local government to come to their aid.
These NGOs have amassed considerable experience over the last three years in
maintaining worker solidarity and providing expert strategic advice during each
stage of the bargaining process. Indeed a number of organisations have produced
a Code of Collective Bargaining,
based on their experience, which can be used by other workers and NGOs to push
for collective bargaining as well as act as a possible template for
legislation. In short, China’s labour NGOs have been playing the role the trade
union should have played but has thus far failed to do.

Helpless bystander

The
official All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) has for the most part
been unwilling or unable to support China’s workers and help level the playing
field in labour relations. The trade union has essentially been a helpless
bystander as the workers’ movement has gained momentum. But there are signs
that growing pressure from the workers for the union to represent their
interests better is beginning to take effect. At the same time as the IBM
strike in Shenzhen, workers at Pepsi plants in several cities across China went
out in a co-ordinated strike against large-scale layoffs, pay cuts and reduced
benefits. The protests were backed and even led by the company trade union and
several individual factory unions. And in the central province of Hunan the
trade union at a Walmart store, which was scheduled to close on March 19th,
took the lead in protests by nearly 150 shop workers opposed to the planned closure.

Why would an authoritarian regime like
the Chinese Communist Party tolerate such an active and seemingly radicalised workforce,
especially when it is being supported in some cases by the trade union? The
workers’ demands, in and of themselves, are not a threat to the party. Quite
the contrary: demands for better pay and conditions and for pension payments
and decent severance pay after years, even decades, of service are perfectly in
keeping with the party’s stated desire to raise the incomes of ordinary
workers, reduce the rapidly growing gap between rich and poor and create a new
class of consumers that can put the Chinese economy on a more stable and
sustainable footing.

The authorities are more concerned about
the means used to pursue those demands. If protests do get out of hand and
workers start blocking traffic and destroying property, the police will certainly
move in and make arrests. Over the two and a half years covered by CLB’s
report, police intervened in about 20% of strikes and protests, with a noticeable
increase in the latter half of 2013. In many cases, the intervention was simply
to contain the situation, although it was not unusual for minor conflicts to
ensue.

In October, the party general secretary,
Xi Jinping, summoned the new leadership of the ACFTU to party headquarters in
Beijing and explained that it was the job of the trade union to help China’s
workers realise their dreams. Assisting workers in their disputes with
employers determined to suppress wages and cheat them out of their entitlements
is clearly one very effective way of helping workers realise their dreams. But
despite some encouraging signs the ACFTU as a whole remains inert and stuck in
its bureaucratic ways. Most workers will for the time being still have to rely
on their own resources and the help of labour NGOs to push the movement forward.
Eventually, however, the sheer momentum of the workers’ movement in China may
well force the trade union to get on board.

This article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 licence.
If you have any queries about republishing please contact us.
Please check individual images for licensing details.

Security for the future: in search of a new vision

What does ‘security’ mean to you? The Ammerdown Invitation seeks your participation in a new civic conversation about national security in the UK and beyond. Its authors offer an analysis of the shortcomings of current approaches and propose a different vision of the future. Please use the invitation summary document for seminars, workshops and public meetings, and share the responses and insights that emerge.